Hagrid at Hogwarts
by LavernaG
Summary: The Second Wizarding War is over, and Hogwarts is again filled with students. The new Headmistress, Minerva McGonagall, finds it's time to right some wrongs made in the past, and arranges for Hagrid to have a chance at studying magic again. Two-Shot.
1. Chapter 1

Minerva McGonagall, the Headmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, sat up in her chair, fidgeting with her quill. She was in the middle of writing the Hogwarts acceptance letters for the next school year's first year students. This was a task she had not passed on to her deputy, Professor Flitwick. Because it was a thrill to know how much joy these letters that she wrote in her delicate handwriting and green ink would bring to the young witches and wizards, especially the muggle-borns, and how it would start their road of education that lasted for the rest of their lives. Of course there had occurred quite a few difficulties with sending some of the letters, the best example of it being the famous Harry Potter's letters.

Minerva always enjoyed writing the letters, although at first it had been hard to write 'Headmistress Minerva McGonagall' instead of 'Headmaster Albus Dumbledore' on the parchment. It had sometimes been so trying that she had needed to start over with the letter because the parchment had become wet with the old witch's tears.

Now, looking out of her office window at the completely abandoned Quidditch pitch, Minerva considered writing one additional Hogwarts letter; the idea that had been haunting her for years, through the Second Wizarding War, and to this day. Still not sure, whether she should write this particular letter, Minerva thought back to the end of the last school year.

 _Headmistress McGonagall stood alone by the large oak doors in the main entrance of the school. The children in the courtyard were eager to leave, and the crowd tried to push as quickly as they could through the gates. Minerva heard a low cough next to her, and turned to smile up at the giant._

 _"Aft'rnoon, madam," he said in his rich voice, giving a nod of his head._

 _"It's still Minerva for you, Hagrid," the Headmistress replied in a kind tone._

 _The giant looked a bit embarrassed. "'Course. Sorry," he stammered. "I forget, what with all your new post an' all."_

 _"It's all right," Minerva said, and turned to watch the escaping students again._

 _"It must be an amazin' feelin', eh?" Hagrid said after watching the children for a while. Minerva looked at him in confusion. "I mean, finishin' the school. They must be so proud." His tone was carefree and happy, yet Minerva knew for certain that he was actually sad._

 _"I'm sure they are," she said, patting Hagrid's arm._

 _At this moment she wished more than ever that she could change the past, and get rid of the Riddle boy in his school years. Not because that would have prevented the Wars and saved so many lives, although that would have been a noble cause; Minerva wished she could have kept the kind giant from being expelled._

 _"Come on now," Minerva said when she heard Hargid sniff loudly. "Let's have a cup of tea in my office. That'll calm you down a bit."_

After watching the memory of that day play in her mind, Minerva dipped her quill into the ink pot decisively, and started to write The Letter.

* * *

One stormy evening in June, the Hogwarts staff that had remained at the castle for the holidays were having dinner in the Great Hall. With all the students away, the Hall was unusually quiet, except for the quiet chatter that came from the teachers' table.

A loud screech filled the room for a moment, and everyone looked up at the great horned owl that flew in from the one open window and swooped towards the teachers' table. No one noticed Minerva's contented smile that she quickly hid from her face.

The dripping wet owl landed on the table in front of Professor Flitwick and waddled over to Hagrid who sat next to him. The bird perched its head up and chirped.

"Why hello, li'l one!" Hagrid said to the bird. "Yer Minerva's girl, aren't you?" The owl came closer to him, studying the giant curiously. "Come here, you pretty girl," Hagrid called, gently stroking the owl's head.

Professor Sprout turned to McGonagall. "Minerva, your owl has a letter with her," the witch said. "I think she's made a little mistake with the address."

Minerva continued to eat, undisturbed. "Demeter is never wrong," she told her friend calmly, not once looking up from her plate.

By the time Sprout looked at the giant again, Hagrid had already taken the owl on his large hand, and tried to feed it something.

"Hagrid, I think she's carrying a message," Pomona said to him, and Demeter puffed her chest proudly, reaching her leg forward.

Hagrid took the letter from the owl and set the bird back on the table. Demeter chirped for him once more, and then waddled over the table to Minerva. The witch stroked her feathers fondly, now finally looking at Hagrid.

The giant opened the letter that was written in a strangely familiar emerald green ink. Everyone watched as he read the parchment in complete silence. With every word he took in, his eyes filled with big tears that soon made their way down his cheeks and into his wide beard. Under it, his lips could be seen quivering.

When he reached the end of the letter, Hagrid stared at it for another few moments, just as everyone started at him. And then he stood up, shakily, the letter still in his hand.

Instinctively, many of the others wanted to follow suit to see what was going on, but only Madam Pomfrey and the Headmistress actually stood.

"Hagrid?" Poppy asked in a worried tone. "Are you all right?"

Hagrid didn't seem to hear that, his back was turned to the med-witch as he took a couple of steps toward the Headmistress. Minerva made her way out of her chair and stood in front of the giant, waiting for his final reaction to the letter he had received. His tears had already told her how touched he was, but Minerva was still not quite sure how he would take this.

For a moment Hagrid stared at her, hesitating, afraid of hearing a laugh or seeing a sneer; but once he realized how stupid it was for him to think that, he bent down and captured the witch in a big hug. He was indescribably grateful to her.

Minerva felt like she couldn't breathe in the strong bear hug of Hagrid's, but she didn't mind. She gently patted his large arm, feeling unusually tiny in his embrace, but not at all troubled by it. She felt his warm tears on her shoulder and heard him sniff next to her ear, but she knew how happy he really was.

"Thank you, M'nerva," Hagrid murmured finally. "Thank you." He squeezed the witch tighter, unawares of Minerva being completely out of breath, and paying no attention to the rest of the staff watching them. "Thank you for bein' so considerate," he said in a grateful voice full of emotion.

Minerva looked up at him in slight confusion, and the giant loosened his hold on her. "Considerate?" she said in a small voice. "Hagrid. You are invited to study at Hogwarts," she explained to him, realizing that the giant must think it was just a considerate gesture.

Hagrid stared at her for a long moment, his eyes wide with amazement mixed with hesitation. "It's kind of yeh," he said quietly. "But the rules..."

"Hagrid, I make the rules now," Minerva interrupted him. She was pleased to see his eyes catch a happy spark. "From next year on you shall be a student at Hogwarts, again."

The staff who had been watching the scene first in confusion and now in happy surprise, started to cheer at this, with smiles upon everyone's faces.

Hagrid looked around at everyone, not sure how to react now, and finally looked down at the Headmistress again. "Ar' ye sure?" he asked warily. Minerva nodded with a wide smile on her face.

At that Hagrid swept her up from the floor in another embrace, this time laughing in pure happiness.


	2. Chapter 2

Minerva McGonagall watched with pride as the first-years' names were called out. With each name a young witch or wizard came forward, hesitantly taking a seat on the stool in front of the Head Table. Professor Flitwick was standing on another one next to that one, and put the Sorting Hat on top of the children's heads excitedly. As soon as the Hat had made a decision and shouted out the House's name, the hall broke into an applause.

The students from the second-years to the last-years had all been surprised and confused to see Hagrid entering with the first-years, and coming to stand next to the children in front of the Head Table. The half-giant had always left the children to the Deputy Headmaster at the doors of the castle, and appearing in the Great Hall with them was odd, to say the least. In the commotion of the sorting, most of them stopped to wonder about the giant, and focused on welcoming the newcomers.

From the Head Table Minerva could see the excited and happy glisten in the giant's eyes. The Headmistress had allowed him to not buy himself a set of school robes, considering the work the seamstresses would have to go through because of his size, and had offered to transfigure some of his own clothes into school robes if he wanted to. But since all this business was quite out of the ordinary, they had eventually agreed that Hagrid wouldn't need to wear special school garment. He was to remain teaching the Care of Magical Creatures, since Minerva couldn't see why not - his grades in that area of magic could not be questioned -, and he had decided to remain living in his Hut, because the student dorms were simply too small for him and he had his dog to take care of.

Minerva had personally accompanied Hagrid to Diagon Alley. They had gotten him a new wand - so he could leave his umbrella at home - and the school books required. Through the trip, and really the entire time since receiving his Hogwarts Letter, Hagrid had been most happy. And Minerva couldn't blame him; she was totally pleased with the situation. It had taken her to change quite a lot of rules to make this work, but she was highly respected by the Board of Governors, so it hadn't taken her long to.

"Hagrid, Rubeus!" called Professor Flitwick happily.

A hush fell over the Hall. Everyone stared in shock as the giant stepped up to the stool and took a seat. Minerva watched proudly as Professor Flitwick hesitated to Levitate the Sorting Hat up to Hagrid's head.

"Perhaps you'd like to do it yourself," the small wizard offered, and Hagrid took the Hat from him.

He put the Hat carefully on and instantly heard a long forgotten familiar voice in his ear. "You again, hm? Well, there's no doubt anymore to which house you belong. GRYFFINDOR!"

The students, who had finally understood what was happening, broke into a tremendous applause and cheering. As Hagrid took off the Hat and handed it back to Professor Flitwick, the small wizard smiled at him, and the giant had a glimpse of the other teachers clapping and smiling widely. When he turned to head to his house's table, every one of the students stood up out of respect, and the Gryffindors welcomed their new housemate with uppermost joy.

If Minerva's memory wasn't failing her, this cheering was even louder than the one Harry Potter had gained at his Sorting.

* * *

"Quiet now, please!" Professor Flitwick called, gaining the attention of his class - first-year Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs. "Thank you. Now, in our lesson today, we will be learning the Levitation charm."

Throughout the lesson the students behaved, but once the lesson was over, everyone gathered around the most popular first-year again. Hagrid always found himself in the centre of attention in class. And for a soft half-giant that he was, this attention was at first quote overwhelming. It didn't take long though for him to cast aside his wariness, and become a great friend to all of his new classmates.

The students gathered around him to hear his stories of the Wizarding War, of what Hogwarts was like years ago, and of what it was like to be a teacher. Care of Magical Creatures became the first-years' favourite lesson, even most of the Slytherins were having fun in Hagrid's lessons. And that was saying something!

Hagrid himself was thoroughly excited to be able to learn at Hogwarts again, and to be allowed to use magic again.

* * *

"I trust you're doing well in class, Hagrid," Minerva said, flicking her wand to make the teapot pour some tea into the half-giant's cup. "You're ever so popular among the students."

Hagrid chuckled into his beard. "I must say they're rather a nice bunch o' kids," he said. "I do my best in the lessons. Some o' the spells I can rememb'r from my time, but that's only little. It's good to have a real wand again."

Minerva smiled behind her teacup. "I'm glad you're happy."

"I ought to thank you."

"You already have."

"But I ought to say it again," Hagrid protested. "If it weren't for you, this would ne'er have 'appened." He eyed the Headmistress gratefully. "I always say Dumbledore was the greatest wizard o' our time. An' I don't think I will be mistaken if I say you're the greatest witch I've known."

"Oh, nonsense!" Minerva said dismissively, waving her hand.

"I'm afraid I must agree with Hagrid on this one," a familiar voice said from one of the paintings on the Headmistress's office wall. Minerva looked up to find the white-bearded wizard smiling at her, his eyes twinkling behind those half-moon shaped spectacles. Minerva shook her head in slight annoyance.

Her eyes absent-mindedly wandered to another painting on the wall that she had lately often been watching. The young black-haired Headmaster nodded almost unnoticeably.

"Men!" Minerva sighed.

 _The End_


End file.
